Fear Agent #26 Review

Creative Team
Writer: Rick Remender
Pencils: Tony Moore
Inks: John Lucas

Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10

What has happened before…
Heath Huston lands on another planet. He is shot while escaping from a strange camp. When he is saved by local ranchers, they reunite him with his ex-wife Charlotte.

Heath wants to stay in town but has to return to his violent ways to save the townspeople. When Heath returns, Charlotte is missing. The town has been taken over by Heath’s evil doppelganger. The evil twin is ready to kill Charlotte when Heath returns…

This issue features the showdown between Heath and his evil twin hence the title “I Against I”. Evil Heath has set fire to the town. He threatens to shoot Charlotte unless Heath takes a drink with him. The two get into a fight while the town burns around them.

Evil Heath gets the upper hand and is ready to kill Heath when a ray blast strikes him. It is the Fear Agents. They have taken Heath and Charlotte’s daughter and used her blood to track him. Evil Heath is a war criminal who they want to take back for punishment. Charlotte grabs a gun and shoots one of the agents. The remaining Agents board their ship and leave.

Months later on the planet, Heath has recovered from his fight. He takes off in a rocket with Charlotte. They are going to track down their daughter and free her from the Fear Agents.

Rick Remender attracted my attention when he filled in on Booster Gold. His stories were action packed, true to continuity, and fun to read. Fear Agent was similar in the action area.

The main difference between Fear Agents and the Booster Gold issues is the violence and, for lack of a better word, crudeness. Most of the issue could be read by any age fan but some of it is aimed at the adult reader. I would not recommend this for younger readers.

After reading this issue, I would like to see Remender write a Jonah Hex story. This seemed like a western if you ignored the aliens, ray guns, and rocket powered wagons. The whole issue seemed like a cross between westerns and the old E.C. science fiction comics.

The plot of a stranger coming to town, cleaning up the villains, and going in search of his missing daughter is a standard western plot. The addition of the technology makes it throwback to the science fiction pulp days. Somehow when you read it, it comes together and works.

The relationships between the characters are well developed. Remender shows that he is a good pulp style writer.

Terry Moore and John Lucas do a good job portraying this gritty comic. Their art reminds me of the collaboration of Mark Wheatley and Marc Hempel. I still remember their early work on Mars and Blood of the Innocent. Both Wheatley and Hempel are worth looking up, if you get the chance.

Moore and Lucas do a great job of choreographing the fight between the two Heaths. The final page of the rocket shooting through space is spectacular. The designs they use for the ships have a good retro look to them.

Recommended to fans of E.C. comics and to readers looking for something different.